Canada’s BCSC warns the forex, CFD broker Xtrade is not licensed in BC

Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.

Canada’s provincial regulator, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), has warned that the Xtrade forex broker does not hold a license from it.

According to the regulator, representatives of the broker solicited a British Columbia resident and he was able to open a trading account, even though Xtrade is not licensed to provide financial services in the Canadian province. “We urge BC residents to exercise caution when dealing with firms that are not registered to trade or advise in BC,” the watchdog said.

The broker holds a license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) as Xtrade Europe, the Belize International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) as Xtrade.BLZ and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as Xtrade.AU, but those do not allow it to do business in British Columbia.

Recently the Australian branch of the broker agreed to alter its client money policies, as the ASIC was concerned Xtrade was not complying with regulatory requirements on the subject and was not transferring the client deposits to a separate trust on a regular basis, but only periodically.

Xtrade offers trading in forex, commodities, indices, shares and CFDs on its proprietary platform Xtrader Pro. Its European head office is in Cyprus, but the contact numbers are from the UK.